Judge rejects probation in college false rape case

By Daniel Tepfer

Updated
5:44 pm EST, Monday, November 13, 2017

Nikki Yovino, seen here with her attorney Mark Sherman, in Bridgeport Superior Court in March. Yovino is charged with second-degree falsely reporting an incident and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence. less

Nikki Yovino, seen here with her attorney Mark Sherman, in Bridgeport Superior Court in March. Yovino is charged with second-degree falsely reporting an incident and tampering with or fabricating physical ... more

Nikki Yovino, seen here with her attorney Mark Sherman, in Bridgeport Superior Court in March. Yovino is charged with second-degree falsely reporting an incident and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence. less

Nikki Yovino, seen here with her attorney Mark Sherman, in Bridgeport Superior Court in March. Yovino is charged with second-degree falsely reporting an incident and tampering with or fabricating physical ... more

BRIDGEPORT — A former Sacred Heart University student, accused of making up rape allegations against two football players to gain sympathy from a prospective boyfriend, was denied a pretrial probation program Friday.

“This kind of false report is lethal to all true victims,” Superior Court Judge Maureen Dennis stated in denying accelerated rehabilitation for 19-year-old Nikki Yovino. “Her actions altered two lives in a significant way. If not for the extraordinary efforts involved in this investigation, the lives of these two young men could have been altered much more severely.”

As Yovino stood beside her lawyer, Mark Sherman, grimacing, Sherman told the judge, “She is sorry it happened, she is sorry it is here. This is not a guilty plea in any way. There are defenses we expect to exercise down the road.”

The judge then continued the case to Nov. 14.

Yovino, who left Sacred Heart and now works in real estate in Long Island, is charged with second-degree falsely reporting an incident and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.

Under accelerated rehabilitation, a program for nonviolent offenders, she would not have pleaded guilty to the crime but could have received up to two years’ probation. After successfully completing that probation, the charges against her would have been dismissed.

Both Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Tatiana Messina and Frank Riccio II, the lawyer for the two victims, objected to Yovino getting AR.

“Accusations of rape are huge and her actions malign every sexual assault victim,” Messina argued. “She was given a number of chances to tell what really happened but she kept up the lie for a number of months.”

Riccio said that as a result of Yovino’s rape allegations, his clients were scheduled for a school disciplinary hearing but — on the advice of legal council — agreed instead to withdraw from the university rather than face being expelled. He said one of his clients lost a football scholarship because of the accusation. In the meantime, he said, the two have had to live with the stigma of being accused rapists.

On Oct. 15, 2016, police were dispatched to St. Vincent’s Medical Center for a sexual assault complaint. Police met with Yovino, who told them she had attended a Sacred Heart football club party the night before at a house at Lakeside Drive here.

Police said the girl claimed the two men pulled her into a bathroom in the basement of the house.

“I don’t want to be in here, I don’t want to do anything. My friends are waiting for me outside, let me go outside,” police said she claims she told the men.

She told police the men held her down and each took a turn sexually assaulting her.

Police said both men admitted having sex with Yovino in the bathroom but said it was consensual.

Detective Walberto Cotto Jr. questioned Yovino about the alleged assault again three months later at her Long Island home.

“She admitted that she made up the allegation of sexual assault against (the football players) because it was the first thing that came to mind and she didn’t want to lose (another male student) as a friend and potential boyfriend,” according to the arrest warrant affidavit.

“She stated that she believed when (the other male student) heard the allegation, it would make him angry and sympathetic to her.”